Chongqing Express

Chongqing, a sprawling municipality in southwestern China, may not be top of mind when considering destinations in China.

First, there’s cosmopolitan Shanghai, where old meets new with its modern skyscrapers and heritage sites. Then there’s historic Beijing, China’s seat of power and home to the central government and the ruling party’s institutions.

But to my pleasant surprise, Chongqing proved to be a worthy addition to one’s list of places to see in the Land of the Red Dragon.

I was in Chongqing last week as part of a visiting delegation from The STAR led by our president and CEO, Miguel Belmonte.

Those looking for old and modern China will find both in Chongqing and can even visit exhibition halls and museums that tell stories about the olden days.

Inside the Planning Exhibition Hall, for example, the first thing that caught my attention was a striking illustration of development in the Chinese municipality: a huge black-and-white photo of old Chongqing below an image of modern Chongqing.

Like most places, the differences are stark and obvious, but in Chongqing, the development is impressive.

I thought of our very own Binondo area. Images from the colonial period show a district that was clean, spacious and even elegant. The Binondo of today, however, is very different from its past self, and it’s not necessarily for the better – it’s overcrowded and dirty with buildings and structures everywhere.

Unlike Chongqing – or China, for that matter – the Philippines lacks long-term planning. Each city has its own planning and development office, but almost always, the plans ultimately depend on who can afford to buy property or land.

I was also in Amsterdam for a press event some weeks ago. Walking around the city, I learned that the Dutch government has strict zoning rules. For example, in protected historical sites such as canal areas, residents cannot drastically alter the facades of their homes without approval. This way, the government maintains the distinct brick façades that characterize Amsterdam. Perhaps similar strict zoning practices exist in other European countries to preserve their heritage.

In Chongqing, the transformation is rapid. The municipality has transformed by leaps and bounds, as one can see by comparing it with the old black-and-white photo, but the development is so well planned that its historical sites have been preserved.

Train-swallowing building

And then there’s the innovative tourist attraction, the Liziba Station, which shows a functioning light rail line being “swallowed” by a residential building as it passes through it.

The concept is actually simple. But here, it looks amazing because the train appears to disappear into a high-rise residential block.

Liziba CRT Station was listed as one of China’s 70-Year Growth Landmarks before the National Day, according to iChongqing, the municipality’s information website.

As the first overhead station built through and surrounded by skyscrapers, it has gained worldwide recognition since its inception. Visitors, whether riding the train or looking up from the viewing platform, are amazed as they watch the train “disappear” into the high-rise block, it also said.

This train-swallowing illusion has attracted hordes of tourists – even the locals!

We saw a huge crowd at the Liziba Observation Platform, just downstairs from the station’s Exit 2, to capture the optical illusion.

“By standing on the ground level and pointing their cameras up, visitors take photos and videos of themselves posing with their mouths open, making it look like they are ‘swallowing’ the train,” iChongqing also said.

There are even photographers on standby offering to take visitors’ iconic photos.

As I said, it’s a simple yet innovative tourism concept. It is also a concrete example of long-term planning. The building and the station were built at the same time, perhaps with the view that they could become a major tourism attraction.

Bridge capital of China

On an evening cruise on the Yangtze River, our group saw the bridges of Chongqing in all their glittering glory. Again, this is a simple and very doable tourism concept. The kaleidoscope of changing colors – red, green and blue – along with the city lights of both modern and historical buildings, was a feast for the senses.

“There are 20,000 bridges of various sizes, among which 105 are super bridges spanning the Yangtze and Jialing rivers... The city boasts a diverse range of bridge types, including arch bridges, beam bridges, cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges, earning it the title ‘Bridge Museum’,” iChongqing also said.

Why so many bridges? This is because Chongqing lies between the Jialing and Yangtze rivers.

The Baijusi Yangtze River Bridge caught the public’s imagination with its futuristic design, drawing comparisons to “Star Trek” and becoming a viral sensation, according to iChongqing.

That bridge reminded me of the Golden Gate. Although less massive and grand than the San Francisco icon, it is impressive just the same.

Chongqing shows that with proper planning, a city can modernize while preserving its heritage sites.

This column borrows its title from Wong Kar-wai’s Chungking Express, but instead of a story about chance encounters, it is about a city whose remarkable transformation did not happen by chance at all.

They say one should make a wish when passing under a bridge. I should have wished that we, too, could develop the way other cities have done.

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